Den folkligt bildade politikern : Akademiska kunskaper och det symboliska kapitalets logik inom den socialdemokratiska riksdagsgruppen i Sverige

Globally speaking, parliamentarians tend to be more highly educated than their average constituent. In some countries, such as Great Britain and France, there is also a clear link between political power and some certain educational institutions, such as Cambridge and Oxford, which have become important roads to a successful political career. The Swedish political elite differs from this pattern. Even though Swedish parliamentarians generally have a higher education than the average Swede, having an academic education has not been a necessity for a successful political career. This is particularly evident in the Social Democratic Party, which is Sweden’s largest party. Non-academic educational pathways have been of great importance. Historically, popular education, particularly certain «folk high schools», have served as an alternative educational portal for politicians. Is this still the case? What forms of education and knowledge are currently important portals for entering the political elite in Sweden? This paper explores these questions, using interviews with Social Democratic MPs and data from Statistics Sweden on MPs' educational background. Bourdieu's concept of symbolic capital is used to analyze how different skills and educational experiences confer value within the Social Democratic Party. The results show that there are a number of different types of knowledge and experience that are considered of great value. The value of academic knowledge exhibits a great deal of ambivalence. In terms of exchange value (e.g. academic degrees), academic knowledge is conferred low value and is often downplayed narratively. At the same time, however, in terms of use value, academic knowledge is acknowledged to have considerable utility as academic education is seen to facilitate the reading of political documents that forms a large part of MPs' daily lives. The results also suggest that non-formal education still appears to be a highly valued educational pathway to political power in Sweden.Utbildningsvägar till makte

Relationship between structure and adjuvanticity of N,N,N-trimethyl chitosan (TMC) structural variants in a nasal influenza vaccine.

The aim of this study was to assess the influence of structural properties of N,N,N-trimethyl chitosan (TMC) on its adjuvanticity. Therefore, TMCs with varying degrees of quaternization (DQ, 22-86%), O-methylation (DOM, 0-76%) and acetylation (DAc 9-54%) were formulated with whole inactivated influenza virus (WIV). The formulations were characterized physicochemically and evaluated for their immunogenicity in an intranasal (i.n.) vaccination/challenge study in mice. Simple mixing of the TMCs with WIV at a 1:1 (w/w) ratio resulted in comparable positively charged nanoparticles, indicating coating of WIV with TMC. The amount of free TMC in solution was comparable for all TMC-WIV formulations. After i.n. immunization of mice with WIV and TMC-WIV on days 0 and 21, all TMC-WIV formulations induced stronger total IgG, IgG1 and IgG2a/c responses than WIV alone, except WIV formulated with reacetylated TMC with a DAc of 54% and a DQ of 44% (TMC-RA44). No significant differences in antibody titers were observed for TMCs that varied in DQ or DOM, indicating that these structural characteristics play a minor role in their adjuvant properties. TMC with a DQ of 56% (TMC56) formulated with WIV at a ratio of 5:1 (w/w) resulted in significantly lower IgG2a/c:IgG1 ratios compared to TMC56 mixed in ratios of 0.2:1 and 1:1, implying a shift towards a Th2 type immune response. Challenge of vaccinated mice with aerosolized virus demonstrated protection for all TMC-WIV formulations with the exception of TMC-RA44-WIV. In conclusion, formulating WIV with TMCs strongly enhances the immunogenicity and induces protection against viral challenge in mice after i.n. vaccination. The adjuvant properties of TMCs as i.n. adjuvant are strongly decreased by reacetylation of TMC, whereas the DQ and DOM hardly affect the adjuvanticity of TMC

Development and qualification of the parallel line model for the estimation of human influenza haemagglutinin content using the single radial immunodiffusion assay

Infection with human influenza virus leads to serious respiratory disease. Vaccination is the most common and effective prophylactic measure to prevent influenza. Influenza vaccine manufacturing and release is controlled by the correct determination of the potency-defining haemagglutinin (HA) content. This determination is historically done by single radial immunodiffusion (SRID), which utilizes a statistical slope-ratio model to estimate the actual HA content. In this paper we describe the development and qualification of a parallel line model for analysis of HA quantification by SRID in cell culture-derived whole virus final monovalent and trivalent influenza vaccines. We evaluated plate layout, sample randomization, and validity of data and statistical model. The parallel line model was shown to be robust and reproducible. The precision studies for HA content demonstrated 3.8–5.0% repeatability and 3.8%–7.9% intermediate precision. Furthermore, system suitability criteria were developed to guarantee long-term stability of this assay in a regulated production environment. SRID is fraught with methodological and logistical difficulties and the determination of the HA content requires the acceptance of new and modern release assays, but until that moment, the described parallel line model represents a significant and robust update for the current global influenza vaccine release assay.